The Art of Freedom : On the Dialectics of Democratic Existence

The concept of democratic freedom refers to more than the kind of freedom embodied by political institutions and procedures. Democratic freedom can only be properly understood if it is grasped as the expression of a culture of freedom that encompasses an entire form of life. Juliane Rebentisch’s systematic and historical approach demonstrates that we can learn a great deal about the democratic culture of freedom from its philosophical critics. From Plato to Carl Schmitt, the critique of democratic culture has always been articulated as a critique of its ãaestheticization“. Rebentisch defends various phenomena of aestheticization Ð from the irony typical of democratic citizens to the theatricality of the political Ð as constitutive elements of democratic culture and the notion of freedom at the heart of its ethical and political self-conception. This work will be of particular interest to students of Political Theory, Philosophy and Aesthetics. Cover 1 Title page 5 Copyright page 6 Contents 7 Acknowledgments 10 Origins of the Text 11 Introduction: Aestheticization – An Apologia 13 PART I: An Antique Diagnosis of a Crisis 27 1: The Provocative Beauty of Democracy: Plato 29 1. Freedom and Indeterminacy 30 2. The Slavery of the Tyrant 33 3. The Unstable Democrat 35 4. Clear-sighted, Processual, and Totalized Weakness of Will 37 5. Weakness of Will or the Freedom from Oneself 41 6. The Unfree Opportunist 44 7. Many Jobs and Much Trespassing 47 8. The Occurrence of an Inner Nature or the Freedom Toward Self 50 9. Democrats and Theater Types 52 10. Theatrocracy: The Fearlessly Judging Multitude 56 11. Masses and Mimesis 61 12. Self-Difference and Perfection 64 PART II: The Ethical-Political Right of Irony 69 2: The Morality of Irony: Hegel* 71 1. The Beginning of Morality in Socratic Irony 72 2. Socrates’ Divisive Work 74 3. Irony and the Practice of Truth 78 4. Hegel’s Critique of Kant 80 5. A Socratic Reformulation of the Moral Principle 83 6. Critique of the Romantics 87 7. Abstract and Subjective Freedom 91 8. Evil and the “Natural Will” 94 9. The Dialectic of Freedom 97 10. A Less Rigorous Concept of Self-Determination 99 11. Conflicts with and in Morality 102 12. Hegel’s Expulsion of Subjective Freedom from Ethical Life 106 13. The Riddle of Socratic Virtue and the Historicity of the Good 109 3: The Ethics of Aesthetic Existence: Kierkegaard 112 1. The Negative Freedom of Socratic Irony and its Romantic Superseding 114 2. Self-Improvement and Forgetfulness-of-Self 116 3. The Impotent Seducer 120 4. The “Helmeted” Will and its Desperation in the Face of the Aesthetic 124 5. Repentance and Duty: The Freedom to Choose What One Already Is 126 6. One Sexism for Another 131 7. The Love of Divorced Society Ladies 134 8. Aesthetic and Aristocratic Exception 140 9. Common Sinners 143 10. The Leap of Faith 146 11. Repetitions 151 4: Sovereignty in Romanticism: Schmitt 157 1. Aestheticization and Neutralization 158 2. A Look at an Orange 161 3. Alien Power 164 4. The Other in the Own and Decision 166 5. Political Anthropology 171 6. Schmitt and Kierkegaard 174 7. Political Theology 177 8. “Concrete Life” and Decision 179 9. Schmitt’s Rousseauism 183 10. Politics as a Critique of Politics 186 PART III: Democracy and Aestheticization 193 5: The Spectacle of Democracy: Rousseau* 195 1. The Irony of the Actor 197 2. The Public Expression of Indeterminacy 201 3. The Actress and Her Parodies 205 4. The Golden Mean 208 5. “Thy Magic Powers Reunite What Custom’s Sword Has Divided”:36 The Feast of the Brothers 210 6. All Brothers are also Men: The Problem of Male Self-Difference 213 7. The Two Paradoxes of the Social Contract 218 8. The Sovereignty of the Legislator and the Judgment of the “Common Man” 222 9. Another Kind of Equality 227 10. A Politicizable Boundary 230 11. The Two Bodies of the People 232 12. Representation and the Coding of Contingency 236 6: The Anaestheticization of the Political in Fascism: Benjamin 241 1. Charisma versus Ratio 243 2. Politicizing Art 244 3. Astonishment, Not Sympathy 246 4. The Look of the Stranger 249 5. Alienation 250 6. Adaptability and Revolution 253 7. Charisma and Democracy 255 8. Political Theater 257 7: Post-Democracy and the Anaesthetizing of the Political: A Look Forward 260 Notes 272 Introduction: Aestheticization – An Apologia 272 Chapter 1 The Provocative Beauty of Democracy: Plato 273 Chapter 2 The Morality of Irony: Hegel 279 Chapter 3 The Ethics of Aesthetic Existence: Kierkegaard 286 Chapter 4 Sovereignty in Romanticism: Schmitt 295 Chapter 5 The Spectacle of Democracy: Rousseau 300 Chapter 6 The Anaestheticization of the Political in Fascism: Benjamin 311 Chapter 7 Post-Democracy and the Anaesthetizing of the Political: A Look Forward 315 Index 318 EULA 327

The concept of democratic freedom refers to more than the kind of freedom embodied by political institutions and procedures. Democratic freedom can only be properly understood if it is grasped as the expression of a culture of freedom that encompasses an entire form of life. Juliane Rebentisch's systematic and historical approach demonstrates that we can learn a great deal about the democratic culture of freedom from its philosophical critics.

From Plato to Carl Schmitt, the critique of democratic culture has always been articulated as a critique of its ãaestheticization". Rebentisch defends various phenomena of aestheticization Ð from the irony typical of democratic citizens to the theatricality of the political Ð as constitutive elements of democratic culture and the notion of freedom at the heart of its ethical and political self-conception.

This work will be of particular interest to students of Political Theory, Philosophy and Aesthetics.

The concept of democratic freedom refers to more than the kind of freedom embodied by political institutions and procedures. Democratic freedom can only be properly understood if it is grasped as the expression of a culture of freedom that encompasses an entire form of life. Juliane Rebentisch's systematic and historical approach demonstrates that we can learn a great deal about the democratic culture of freedom from its philosophical critics. From Plato to Carl Schmitt, the critique of democratic culture has always been articulated as a critique of its Aaestheticization". Rebentisch defends various phenomena of aestheticization from the irony typical of democratic citizens to the theatricality of the political as constitutive elements of democratic culture and the notion of freedom at the heart of its ethical and political self-conception. This work will be of particular interest to students of Political Theory, Philosophy and aesthetics